


Lingering Still

by earlymorningechoes



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-01
Updated: 2012-09-01
Packaged: 2017-11-13 07:28:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlymorningechoes/pseuds/earlymorningechoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will has been wishing for time to spend just watching movies - but he's surprised when it's Helen's suggestion and not his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lingering Still

     Peering out from behind the seemingly never-ending mound of paperwork atop his desk, Will gazed longingly at the stack of DVDs place precariously on the bookshelf across the room in an attempt to tell himself he’d have a reward if he ever made a dent in the paperwork. His favorite lay on top, beckoning him away from the work, a little bit more every second.

     Shaking his head at himself, he turned back to the computer screen and typed a few more words before finding his eyes sliding away to the enticing DVDs. Letting out a small groan, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to block out the world for a moment. But the moment shattered – happily, mind – when familiar high-heeled footsteps clicked to his office door.

     “Will?” asked Magnus, looking like a fashion magazine spread as she leaned against the doorjamb, her blue dress and beige sweater hanging gently against her oh-so-long legs, looking even longer as his eyes dragged across her heel-clad feet. Snapping back to her voice, he took a split second to decide how to answer.

     “Yeah, Magnus?” he started – at this point they’d been “dating” for nearly four months, but he still used her last name for things that related to work (and she only called him Dr. Zimmerman if she was feeling particularly cheeky) – but he relaxed when her head tipped slightly to the side. Slipping out of his desk chair for the first time in what seemed like hours, but was probably a lot less, he came to stand just inside the door in front of her.

     “Hey, Helen,” he amended, grinning, the feel of her first name in his mouth still sweet as candy. She gave him a slight smile as she leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

     “How much more work do you have tonight?” she asked, a question that could be construed any number of ways if not colored by the kiss.

     Will glanced back at his desk, rolling his eyes and letting out another groan. “Far too much,” he told her, not wanting to sound exhausted by the idea of a night of paperwork but failing miserably.

     Her smiled widened at his words, sending a confused expression across Will’s face – he thought she’d be disappointed that he still had so much work left, both on professional and personal levels. As she reached for his hand, her next words confused him even more.

     “Come on,” she said, her voice more excited than usual, pulling him by the hand out of his office and grabbing the top DVD off the aforementioned stack. A smile spread across Will’s face as well as they headed down the familiar corridors. The media room that had been calling his name all day was suddenly within reach, with the added bonus of a beautiful woman pulling him towards it.

     “Why are you in such a good mood?” he asked, trying to remember if today was a special day or a day that she’d be overcompensating for something, but not so much overcompensating that she’d plan a surprise mission and drag him off to some oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

     She shook her head. “No reason. You’ve just been asking for a night with just us and a movie…so here’s a night with just us and a movie.”

     Helen wasn’t the kind of woman who did this often – a spontaneous movie night, no matter how close she was with someone. So he would take it, even if it didn’t make sense to him.

     When they finally reached the media room that was so often occupied by either Kate or Henry playing some new video game, she popped the DVD in and set it to play, then curled up on the couch next to him, her heels kicked off and her sweater wrapped in tight around her body as he draped his arm over her shoulders. His favorite baseball movie, _Bull Durham_ , scrolled across the screen, but he barely noticed as he buried his nose in her hair, just wanting to soak in as much time with her in this stereotypically romantic setting as he could.

     Leaning down, he whispered, “don’t think, Meat, just pitch” into her ear, just as the character onscreen spoke the familiar line. She turned towards him, smiling again, and kissed him gently. He responded in kind, running his fingers through her thick, dark hair, until she settled her head back onto his shoulder and he rested his own head on top of hers.

     As they watched the movie, he reached for her hand and squeezed. He felt her smile again, and in the flickering blue light of the television, she looked peaceful, as if all the years of knowledge and experience had melted away for a moment.

     Knowing he would probably never get the opportunity to sit like this with her, he closed his eyes and tried to memorize every detail – her hair draped down his back and tickling his neck, her thumb turning slow circles over his wrist, the warmth of her body pressed against his in the middle of the media room couch.

      When the movie’s credits eventually began to roll, Helen uncurled herself from Will’s side and stood, pressing the stop button on the remote and shutting down the DVD player. But before Will could stand to join her, she was back in front of him, a hand stretched out in an invitation.

     “Dance with me?” she asked, playfully, her blue eyes twinkling stars in the still-darkened room. Not much one to dance, but ready to do anything his boss – girlfriend – whatever she was and they were – asked of him, he accepted the proffered hand and stood. Settling easily against one another, they began to sway in time despite the absence of music. Playing with the loose ends of Helen’s hair, Will was suddenly hit with a wave of longing – if only this could have been their everyday, instead of a moment stolen from their work.

     But the feeling was gone as quickly as it had come – he knows that without the insane circumstances that have brought them together, they would never have been. Helen should have died decades before he was even born. And they wouldn’t be the same people if this weren’t their life – holding her close, he thanked the universe, or God, or whoever was out there listening, for the one-in-a-billion chance he’d gotten. They’d gotten.

     Losing track of time, they danced – the silence envelope around them like a blissful cocoon at the center of the spinning planet. Smiling gently, Will rested his head against Helen’s and wondered, again, if he were in another sort of psych-worm dream. But this time – this time – it was real.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the She and Him song of the same name.


End file.
